Holder's "Al-Qaeda 7" Attorneys Revealed

The Liz Cheney-backed group Keep America Safe released this ad this week on the the 7 far left Holder Justice Department attorneys who formerly represented Al-Qaeda terrorists.Keep America Safe: Who Are The Al Qaeda Seven?

Today, FOX News revealed the identities of these seven DOJ attorneys who represented terrorists before joining the Holder Justice Department.

Jonathan Cedarbaum– now an official with the Office of Legal CounselEric Columbus– Senior counsel in the Office of the Deputy Attorney GeneralKarl Thompson– Office of Legal CounselJoseph Guerra– Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General at the Justice DepartmentTali Farhadian– now an official in the Office of the Attorney GeneralBeth Brinkmann– now Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department’s Civil DivisionTony West– the Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division

For several months, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has led an effort to uncover politically-appointed lawyers within the Justice Department who have advocated for Guantanamo Bay detainees or other terror suspects.

“The administration has made many highly questionable decisions when it comes to national security, ” Grassley said in a recent statement. “[Americans] have a right to know who advises the Attorney General and the President on these critical matters.”

…The most extensive detainee-related work by a current Justice Department official, though, may have been done by Tony West, the Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

For several years, while working in Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco office, West represented “American Taliban” Johh Walker Lindh, a move that was hotly debated after West was nominated to the Justice Department in January 2009. West wasn’t confirmed until April 2009.

In a recent letter to Grassley, Assistant Attorney General Ron Weich said nine Justice Department lawyers in total previously represented terror suspects, contributed to court briefs in detainee-related cases or otherwise helped advocate for detainees.

Weich acknowledged in the letter that Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal previously represented a Guantanamo Bay detainee and that National Security Division Attorney Jennifer Daskal previously worked for Human Rights Watch, which advocates on behalf of detainees.

Weich declined to identify the other lawyers, but he insisted that no political appointee at the Justice Department “would permit or has permitted any prior affiliation to interfere with the vital task of protecting national security, and any suggestion to the contrary is absolutely false.”

Keep America Safe released this statement following the disclosure of the terrorist attorneys:

“Today, after much public outcry, the Department of Justice finally and reluctantly disclosed the names of the Al Qaeda Seven. We regret that they still refuse to tell the American people whether any of these lawyers are currently working on detainee issues inside the Department. The American people have a right to know whether lawyers who voluntarily flocked to Guantanamo to take up the cause of the terrorists are currently working on detainee issues in President Obama’s Justice Department. Attorney General Holder’s assertion that hiring former terrorist lawyers is just like hiring lawyers who used to defend white collar criminals demonstrates once again that, despite the President’s rhetoric, the Obama Administration does not understand the dangers of treating terrorism like a law enforcement matter.”